Thought for the Day

Here's the serious one:

Listen to the mustn'ts, child.
Listen to the don'ts.
Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts.
Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me...
Anything can happen, child.
Anything can be.
~Shel Silverstein

The funny one that my secretary said on the announcements today. She couldn't remember if it was original, or she heard it from Jack Handy.

If I had a dollar for every dollar I spent, I'd have all my money back!

Random Thoughts

I broke the coffee pot last night. I was really mad at myself.

I have to take my lunch break today to run an errand across town. I could've mailed it, but I didn't have a stamp. Who uses stamps anymore? Well, obviously not us.

I did something to a friend yesterday that I got irritated someone did to me earlier in the week. Go figure. I apologized.

It's snowing.

I got a new cookbook I'm eager to try out.

It's the last day of January. That was fast.

My desk is a mess again.

Wordless Wednesday

The Deaf

One of my favorite disabilities is deafness. Weird to have a 'favorite' disability, isn't it? When I got to college, I didn't know what I wanted to be. Since it was a private school (gasp! I know, I'll be paying back student loans until I die!), we had chapel every day. I loved chapel, the socializing, the singing, the socializing, the prayer, the socializing, yeah, you get the idea. Anyway, their were interpreters for the Deaf there. 'How cool is that?' I thought. Upon further investigation, most of the interpreters were Speech Therapy majors since they did not have Deaf Ed. I became fast friends with the Deaf people. I learned sign language. The best way...from Deaf people. It's not ASL proper, more of a pidgin type, but most of the time it gets the job done. I will be taking our state interpreters test Feb. 29th. Please pray~LOL. I've recently found some 'v-logers,' and watching them I am so discouraged because while I get the overall message, to actually reverse interpret what they are signing to make it sound like it should (a 'normal' conversation)...shameful!
*Anyway* all this blah blah is to say that I have recently 'met' Karen (maybe I'll really get to meet her someday). She's a cool lady who has run into some trouble recently. But, it reminds me (and brings me back to my point) about why I love Deaf people....Rarely do you see a one of them that isn't happy and well-rounded. I mean, for the 'disability' that us dumb hearing people consider them to have you would think that they would be "oh woe is me, I can't hear, I'll just sit here and let other people take care of me" Nope! They are happy, uplifting, funny, successful, patient, proud, strong, brave, joyous people. They remind me how lucky I am when I start to have a pity party for myself about the troubles I have. I've learned a lot from them about what is truly important and to take what you have and make the best of it. I need to be reminded of that every once in awhile, so thanks Karen, Darin, Mary Lynn, Cassie, Lacey, et al! :)

The Desk, Pt. 1

A couple of months ago, Dear Hubby found a desk for $15! at Goodwill. It was ugly, yes, but he's pretty handy (I think I'll keep him) and the desk is wood, so he figured he good make something decent out of it.

So this weekend, it was finally warm enough to dig it out of the carport and start working. Here it is, in all it's glory.



This is the cool stuff you put on it that makes the paint come off.
Ok, it's called stripper. That's paint stripper.

I love it when it's all done and you can just scrap it off!






But, alas, it doesn't all come off, especially when there's like 3 layers of paint on it. We think this desk was once white, then brown, then green. So, we used the sander (imagine Tim the Toolman and his rr-rr-rr) and the scraper. Dear Hubby even let me use the sander! At first I was a little leary, but then I thought, well, it was $15, if I mess it up, oh well! 1452 hours later......

it looked like this! Nice, huh? And that was just the front! Whew. And my shoulder is sore this morning. And my mother would cringe that I am starting sentences with "and."


I will post some pictures when we finish....um, whenever we finish!

Just Doin' My Job

I got a compliment from my supervisor today. "Michelle, I just wanted to tell you what a good job you're doing on these. All the dates are in there and everything is filled out like it's supposed to be." Huh. Don't get me wrong, I appreciated the compliment, but isn't that what I'm supposed to be doing!? It made me wonder how many people aren't doing their job if they felt they needed to commend me for actually doing mine.

<---Shakes head.....sad.....

Thought for the Day

There is a wonderful mythical law of nature that the three things we crave most in life~happiness, freedom, and peace of mind~are always attained by giving them to someone else.

~Peyton Conway March

Tangle Toys

I found these awesome little beauties at the Wal-mart check out stand. I have about ten of them now. They're so much fun to play with on long trips, during long faculty meetings, long movies, long blog posts...I get bored if I'm doing at least two things at once. Because it's just what I do, I checked them out online. Richard X. Zawitz (isn't that a great name!?) came up with these delightful creations as a model for a sculpture he was trying to build. I made a $36 purchase from the website. My favorite one, which I don't even see anymore was called the Tangle Ball....it was like 3-4 little ones put together, but I guess one of my students decided they needed it more, because it's GONE!! The nerve.....

I don't care for the big one, but it does have some interesting textures.

It's a Conspiracy

I think Valentine's Day is a conspiracy to increase the statistic of people not achieving their New Years Resolutions. Not that I made any, mind you, for I know I cannot keep them!


For example:







Twix Java.......................mmmm





And then there are these little beauties:

Hershey's New York Style Cheesecake Kisses.

See that little oval in the bottom right corner? It says "Family Size." Yeah, I'm gonna be the size of a family!

Baby It's Cold Outside

That song always reminds me of Jolie and Elf singing in the shower. I love it when he runs into the lockers! LOL

I'm a South Texas gal....I'm not used to snow and ice and freezing temperatures. Sure, it's fun for a couple of days, but this has been going on entirely too long! I know all you Yankees are laughing at me, and we don't even really live that far north. But my body is in sensory protest at the amount of clothes I'm having to pile on it!

A few weeks ago we had a terrible ice storm. Scores of trees had branches breaking every few seconds and many people lost power for over a week. We have been serenaded by chainsaws ever since. My husband drove me by the place on base that they are piling all the branches en route to.....??? My son said "I see a half pipe!" Doesn't he wish!

I hope they find some good uses for all the wood. It is sad to see so many trees being cut down.

It's Just What I Do, Pt. 1

When I was in college I loved going to the library. I would go and sit there for hours doing my assignments. I didn't mind them a bit (in fact, I loved them, but that's for anther post). The hushed voices, the smell of books and dust, the view out the second story window, the sheer amount of information at my very fingertips! I've even entertained the passing fancy of becoming a librarian.

My first job was in a book store. My dear friend and I were assigned the Children's Section and we would spend countless hours shelving and finding books for customers, and of course reading and finding new favorites. I remember one Christmas party we had at the owner's house...there were books everywhere! Shelves and shelves, I vowed to one day have as many books as I wanted. But reality set in, and when you move every couple/three years and you have a weight limit, you curtail your urges. I do buy paperback books that I know I will read more than once. My husband will say, haven't you already read that? And as I tell my students...books are made to be read more than once. Here's my favorite childrens book:

I have strict guidelines about paperback novels that I buy. I do not break the spine. This causes ugly bends and makes the pages stick out. The exception to this rule is the Scrabble dictionary.

This is the normal condition of paperback books

that I own.

Yes, I've read it.

Quote for the Day

I am tired, I've had a long, frustrating, angry day. So rather than complain, I will leave you with a funny picture and a quote.

"Anger does as much damage to the vessel it is poured from as it does to anything it is poured upon." Unknown


I can read this quote and comprehend it, but it doesn't make my any less angry! :)

I Love to Sleep

Most every morning, my husband says "How did you sleep?" I'm never sure how to answer this question, because I always sleep well! I can sleep with the best of 'em! I think people that ask this question have trouble sleeping....hmmm......


The funny thing is that the moment my hubby's head hits the pillow, he's asleep. He may not stay that way, but he falls asleep quickly. I, on the other hand may feel really tired, but inevitably lay there for 30 minutes or more trying to fall asleep (where am I going to schedule that new kid? Did I sign my son's agenda? What am I going to make for dinner? Oh! I can't forget to get____ in the morning). On rare occasion, I even get up to get an item right then because I know I will forget it, or write something on my list. But once I'm asleep, I'm good. Since my husband started his new job and gets up before the rooster, I have been coming to a state of semi-consciousness around that time whether he works that day or not. Once I remember waking up in a panic because I didn't feel or hear him get up and so I thought he was going to be late. Aside=my husband is never late. He's always early.


I have hypothyroidism, and before I got it under control, I would sleep all the time, and wake up feeling completely unrested. One time dear hubby said...."I had a dream that we got paid a dollar for every time you hit the snooze button. We were rich!"

Juice or No Juice?

A few years into our marriage, my husband asked me one evening why I emptied most of the juice out of the can before I cooked the vegetables. Wha??? What other way is there, I'm thinking??.....I do everything right. Then it occured to me....well, because that's what my mom always did, that's why!

His mom doesn't do that. She leaves the juice in, and boils them in it. Ok. What's different isn't necessarily wrong, right? So, when I cook his vegetables, I leave the juice in.

When I cook mine, I drain most of the juice out.So, let's have a vote! What do you do? Scroll down to the bottom of the page and cast your ballot!

The Bee Game

Ok, people, armed with the knowledge that I was coming in to a clean desk, I was excited to do some good work with the kids today. Well, I always do good work with them, but sometimes I'm in a better mood about it than others.

Oh, alright (sigh!), maybe I don't *always* do good work, but I always at least do acceptable work.

So, we did our good work, and the majority of the classes had about 5-7 minutes left, so in my buoyed mood, I decided to play the Bee Game with them. Now, I don't often play the Bee game...it's selfish of me, I know....but the Bee game is really annoying to set up. I mean, you have all these 'leaves' that you have to stick through the tree, and I want them to actually come out the other side in a semi-straight fashion, I'm kinda anal like that. I can't let the kids help me set it up, because they just stick them in and don't care whether or not they come out the other side. That makes me all anxious and nervous and my head starts hurting. So, anyway.....once you get all the leaves in, you put the bees on top.

Then you play the game, which takes all of about 5 minutes if you stretch it. See, the kids just want to reach in there and grab all the leaves. Then that just makes me sweaty and churny inside and my head starts hurting again. The object of the game is to strategically and gently pull your chosen leaf so that no bees actually fall.....They don't get the fact that the person with the least number of bees is the winner here. A cuter version of Kerplunk.

We played and many squeals of delight, much laughter and flying bees ensued! I decided that it wasn't such a bad thing after all and I even let them help me put the leaves back in!

My Desk

This is the perpetual state of my desk at work:

How, you may ask, do I get anything accomplished? Well, somehow I do. Fridays are my paperwork and testing days. So I decided that I would tackle my table and desk in hopes that getting things more in order would make me a better speech therapist, not to mention person in general....

I spent the morning doing progress reports. Yes, with my desk like that....41, to be precise. After a yummy lunch with my two best buds, I was back to see if my desk did, in fact have a wood grain top. After a couple of hours and my paper recycling box full again, my desk now looks like this:

Aww!! Aren't you proud of me? I wonder how long it will stay like this!? Don't hold your breath, people...

I hate feet

I don't like feet. Feet are gross. I have a foot phobia. I have this unnatural urge to check out everyone's feet. I cringe at the thought of nasty feet touching me. I don't mind people touching my feet, but I could never give someone a pedicure. EWWW!!! When I was younger, I thought my future husband would have to have cute feet, but somehow saying "Would you mind taking your shoes off so I can inspect your feet?" before accepting or declining an offer for a date never really panned out....

Teacher Story~Peanuts

I am a teacher. I work with the kids who bite, scratch, use wheelchairs, come from situations I wouldn't want my dog living in, can't talk, sometimes can't do much of anything. But they have the best smiles, the most contagious laughter, the warmest hugs, are happy in their own situations, never complain, and have the biggest hearts. Baby steps are celebrated. Tears of joy are shed over small victories. I am content in the knowledge that when I see them in heaven, they won't need my mouth to speak, they won't need my legs to walk, they won't need my ears to hear. OK, enough of the mushy stuff, but I need you to know where I'm coming from.

I used to lament about my job. It is demanding, difficult, heart-wrenching, and thankless. But I've decided it takes a special person to work with God's special babies and I've been given the gift.
I hope to periodically post stories about experiences I have. I'm sure I will sound irreverent at times. I have been in this business for 15 years. I have seen trends come and go. Categories become the 'new thing' to diagnose a child with and disability names changed to more 'politically correct' terminology. I can be irreverent or callous-sounding. I have proven love for 'my' kids and don't let me hear anyone saying anything negative!!

OK, on to the first story!!!!

I was teaching preschool special ed. There were two bathrooms in my classroom. The doors remained open because all sorts of *wonderful* things can happen behind closed doors. So, Johnny (names have been changed to protect the innocent) was in one of the stalls sitting down. Max walks in to use the other restroom but pulls up short when he sees Johnny sitting on the toilet rather than the more natural male posture of standing. Max says to Johnny "You have a penis." Pause.... Then"You have a penis!," with more incredulity. Johnny looks to his left, looks to his right, and responds "I don't have any peanuts!"

P.S. I have fixed the settings so anyone can leave a comment (for those of you who tried and could not)

Blog

A weird word, don't you think? A few years ago, I had never even heard the word. Now, it's common and most everyone knows it. I wondered how it began and found out that the first 'blog' was begun in 1994, though the term 'blog' wasn't coined until 1999. The word comes from web log and morphed into we blog, therefore, blog!

In my day, we hand wrote things like letters, (Gasp! Can you imagine!?) I have journals from back in the day, which I won't share here to spare you my angst.

I also already blog in my scrapbooks, well, when I actually do them, but more on that later.....

So, a couple of months ago a friend sent me a link to a blog. I thought, ok, what is all this about? A few hilarious stories later, I was hooked! I spent hours at work, oops, I mean at home reading and laughing until I had tears rolling down my face. I have since found others that are also humorous, heart breaking, informative, or just plain interesting. I realized, it's just another way to journal, and that way all my family and friends can read at once and I won't have to bring back my carpal tunnel typing numerous emails. So, here it is. I'm not a journalist, a photographer, a comedian, or a writer, I'm just me, take it or leave it.